Absolutely disagree: "much easier and faster" is in the eye of the user.

There's simply no way that any single design will be perceived as "best" by all users.



>> typing the name of your program is much easier and faster than searching through a hierarchical menu
>
>Absolutely agree; especially when a program is buried under several levels of hierarchical menu (under a big W, lol). And not for just programs; e.g. typing keywords 'print', 'down' allows reaching computer resources fast without memorizing shortcuts.